Last month NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover completed a Martian year, which amounts to 687 Earth days, traversing the reddish, arid landscape. The vehicle has ploughed through the red planet and is currently rolling through the Martian crater, Gale.
The Curiosity Rover’s sojourn may have increased the curiosity of scientists worldwide, as it has found evidence that would suggest water existed on the planet once. Scientists of the space agency say that ancient Mars had large quantities of water, which, due to the global hydro-geological cycle, led to the presence of a humongous ocean.
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According to them, these cycles were very cold which resulted in the ocean being partially frozen over and crusted by glaciers on the lowers plains of the northern hemisphere. With the recent findings captured from the Mars Rover, a team of scientists speculate that 3,500 million years ago the crater Gale was covered by glaciers, especially on its central mound Aeolis Mons.
Mount Sharp may have had rivers of ice flowing down its sides, which in turn fed the basin with water for the large ocean. Liquid Water with temperatures deep below the freezing point may have flowed through rivers and lakes in the low-lying areas in the crater, forming landscapes much like the ones we can find in Iceland or Alaska.
The researchers maintain that even with the giant ice sheets covering extensive regions on the planet’s surface, Mars was capable of harboring large quantities of liquid water that are essential for formation of life. The team of scientists used the images captured by the HiRISE and CTX cameras present on the NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and those from the HRSC that is present aboard the Mars Express probe managed by the European Space Agency (ESA).
Alberto Fairén, the lead investigator from Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC) in Spain and Cornell University in the USA, stated that the study has provided “strong local support for the global ‘cold and wet’ model of the ancient Martian environment, which explains both the geological traces of the presence of liquid water in the past which cover the entire planet together with the climatic models which have demonstrated that Mars was never a warm planet.”
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The analyses of the photos taken from the orbiting spacecrafts have revealed the presence of lobated structures, concave basins, fan-shaped deposits and remains of moraines that show glaciers may have existed in the crater. This new evidence of water on Mars would spark off fresh excitement on the search for ancient life on the red planet.
Gale crater is assumed to have been dug out by the impact of a huge meteorite soon after which glaciers covered it. Fairén points out that the area might have been already covered by glaciers when the meteorite hit, and that the glaciers might have reclaimed their area after the impact.
The scientist concluded on an interesting note, explaining that the energy released after the impact on combining with the surface ice could have generated an interesting environment. It would have given rise to hydro-thermal areas that would facilitate grounds for start of life forms.
Does that mean the search for life on Mars could find, if not a robust, at least a slim chance of survival?